In addition to mandating payment of the real Living Wage, the Scottish Government identified the opportunity to hone in on equality, diversity, gender pay gap and workforce development in the Fair Work First Question (Section Weighting – 10%).
The Scottish Public Sector is committed to the delivery of high quality public services, and recognises that this is critically dependent on a workforce which is well-rewarded, well-motivated, well-led, has access to appropriate opportunities for training and development, is diverse and inclusive, and can influence decision making. These factors are also important for workforce recruitment and retention, and thus continuity of service delivery.
Public bodies in Scotland are committed to applying Fair Work First criteria in their own organisation and in publicly funded supply chains.
Fair Work First is the Scottish Government’s policy for driving good quality and fair work in Scotland. Through this approach, the Scottish Government, and its public sector partners, are asking bidders to describe how they are committed to adopting Fair Work First:
In order to ensure the highest standards of service quality in this contract we expect suppliers to commit to progressing towards adopting Fair Work First in the delivery of this contract as part of a fair and equitable employment and reward package as a route to progressing towards wider fair work practices set out in the Fair Work Framework.
The ITT included an additional question on the equality and diversity processes used by bidders for recruitment of temporary and interim staff.
The Public Sector in Scotland is committed to building a workforce of people (including temporary and interim workers) with a wide range of backgrounds, perspectives and experiences. That means having a workforce that includes people of different age groups, socio-economic backgrounds, faith and beliefs. People who are trans, disabled, from minority ethnic backgrounds. People who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual or another sexual orientation. A workforce that is representative of the people of Scotland.
We expect bidders to take a similarly positive approach and have a strategy and processes in place to ensure as best as possible a diverse range of temporary/interim workers.
To help us achieve our ambitions in advancing equality, we would like to understand your aspirations as an organisation in terms of diversity and the temporary/interim workers you put forward. For example, we would like to know:
Requirement: A digital technology project.
Contract duration: 3 years
Contract value: Less than £50,000
Route to market: Mini competition
The model Fair Work First question was included in the Invitation to Tender (Section Weighting 5%):
Please describe and demonstrate how you will commit to adopting Fair Work First for workers (including any agency or sub-contractor workers) engaged in the delivery of this contract. This should include current and planned actions that show how you will embed these practices during the lifetime of this contract.
Answers should include tangible and measurable examples and should also describe how you will report on, and demonstrate progress, to the contracting authority during the lifetime of the contract.
Good answers will reassure evaluators that your company is committed to adopting Fair Work First and to progressing towards wider fair work practices set out in the Fair Work Framework for the workers engaged in the delivery of this contract and those in the supply chain working on this contract. Answers need not be constrained to, or be reflective of, any examples given alongside this question.
Response: The response confirmed that:
The response advised staff benefit from:
The response mainly focussed on skills and training, and engagement and empowerment. Some of the key points are included below:
A question on payment of the real living wage was also included in the invitation to tender: Tenderers are asked to confirm that they will pay staff that are involved in the delivery of services under the contract at least the real Living Wage.
Response: The response confirmed that they are an accredited Living Wage Employer.
